Eugene Torre first Asian male inducted into World Chess Hall of Fame

Asia’s first Grandmaster, record holder in Olympiad participation, and first Asian male to be inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Eugene Torre now holds these distinctions after the World Chess Federation approved his inclusion to its list of immortals in an online meeting of the FIDE Council on Monday, April 19 (Tuesday, April 20, Philippine time).

“I’m very proud because I’m the first Asian male to be conferred this honor,” said Torre. “It’s about time the contributions of Asian players be recognized although we’re newcomers compared to the Europeans and the Americans.”

The 69-year-old Torre duplicated the feat of former women’s world champion Xie Jun, the Chinese Grandmaster who was granted membership in 2019.

Joining Torre – who became Asia’s first GM by bagging the board 1 silver medal in the 1974 Nice (France) Olympiad – in the 2020 Hall of Fame are Polish-Argentine Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf and GM Judit Polgar of Hungary.

They were supposed to be inducted in the United States, but the ceremony is unlikely to push through because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Toti Abundo, a member of the FIDE Historical Committee, relayed Torre’s nomination and inclusion to the Hall of Fame composed of 37 players thus far.

Among the legends in the roster are Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Botvinik, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal, Alexander Alekhine, Anatoly Karpov, and Garry Kasparov.

Although the  World Chess Hall of Fame was established in 1984 in St. Louis Missouri, it was in only 2001 when the first five players – Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba, Wilhelm Steinitz of Austria, Robert James Fischer and Paul Morphy of the USA, and Emmanuel Lasker of Germany – were honored.

Torre was a close friend of Bobby Fischer, who invented Fischer Random chess (Chess 960), and served as the late genius’ chief second in the world title rematch he won over Spassky in 1992.

Apart from his silver medal in Nice, Torre also bagged bronzes manning board 1 for the Philippines in the 1980 Malta and 1986 Dubai Chess Olympiads.

It was in the 2016 Baku (Azerbaijan) Olympiad when Torre, at the ripe age of 64, put up his most sterling performance when he clinched the board 3 bronze and emerged with the highest point total (10 of 11) among all participants.

Torre won 9 and drew 2 for a performance rating of 2836, but fellow Filipino Wesley So, representing the US, and Zoltan Almasi of Hungary took the gold and silver, respectively, because of higher performance ratings.

Keeping his sharp form, Torre emerged back-to-back Asian Seniors (65 and over) in 2017 and 2018 and placed seventh in the 2017 World Seniors (65 and over) in Acqui Terme, Italy.

Torre, who has played in 23 Olympiads and attended 25 of the biennial event in total, was inducted into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame by the Philippine Sports Commission in 2016. – Rappler.com